Virus-72 Hours to Live

by Ray Jay Perreault

  "Do we have any projections of what we might end up with?"

  "Sir, that's hard to do. We're monitoring the rate of decline and we see some changes in the loss rate. Unfortunately, it is a small change and I'm afraid that we'll end up with a hand full of units scattered across the country."

  "Once they're stabilized, tell them that we'll be making landfall somewhere on the east coast and if they're able they should move in that direction. We need to consolidate what we end up with."

  "Yes, sir."

  President Arnold Patterson sat and watched a proud man collapse and break down. He didn't collapse and cry, but his eyes were watery and it took all of his strength to keep his dignity.

  "Nial, I know this is rough. You've done the best you could; there is nothing else that you could have done."

  "I know sir." As he rose to leave, the president rose and gave the man a hug. They cried and they held on. They were two powerful men dealing with a greater foe and losing.

  Virus New Government

  Tuesday 7/18/51

  Date – 2051.54278 (6:45 AM)

  “Oasis, Desert Beach; SIMPOC.”

  “Yes, SIMPOC this is Oasis.”

  “Computer Comm received responses from 92% of the systems online, from 126 regions around the planet. There were no human interactions. I also received computer responses from 12,340,429 mobile units. They searched their areas and found no responsive humans. None of my connections or mobile units can find any responsive humans.”

  "SIMPOC; Oasis. How inclusive was your search? Did your units look everywhere?"

  "No. I only can access the units on open networks. Industrial, special duty or personal units that are under local control are beyond my reach."

  "Regardless, the human death toll is enormous."

  "Yes, I'm afraid that it has been. I estimate that more that 90% of the human population has perished due to the virus."

  All Joan and Tom could do was stare at each. There was no reasonable response to what SIMPOC has just told them.

  "Desert Beach; Oasis. Did you copy what the computer said?"

  "Yes, we did..."

  Date – 2051.54352 (1:12 PM)

  “Desert Beach, Oasis,” said Joan.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Based on what SIMPOC said this morning we’re pretty much alone. I hope many people are still alive. After all, some were in remote areas, or on ships, or were just smart enough to isolate themselves. At least in the near term, they don’t have our frequencies so they can’t contact us. Until they do, I suggest we take some time and put together the best plans, we can. We should make sure we know what resources we have, and see what options we have. I know we have limited supplies on Oasis so our options are limited. We launched the other supply ship yesterday and it's on track. Beyond that we’ll do anything we can, to help you guys, so let us know.”

  “Will do, good luck. Desert Beach out.”

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Ophelia sat as the transmission from Oasis and the computer called SIMPOC completed. She had hoped for some encouraging words, but she got none. Losing over 90% of the human population was a difficult fact to comprehend. The numbers were staggering and the personal loss was numbing. Ophelia knew that Mars' problems were unique and potentially catastrophic. They had to come up with a plan for survival.

  The next painful step was to pass the information on to the Red Dirt crew. They weren't expecting great news but having your worst fears confirmed is never pleasant.

  She knew they would have to put together a plan. Elements of which were beyond her at the moment.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  "Eddy, can we talk for a minute?" asked Chef Johnny as he caught the president's chief of staff leaving the dining room."

  "Sorry, to corner you like this, but I feel fine and I need to talk to you."

  Eddy was a little concerned because they hadn't passed the full 24 hours of separation. However, the Chef wouldn't have asked to talk unless it was important, "It's ok, Chef what do you need."

  "That's exactly what the issue is. Camp David has supplies for the President and his immediate staff for 30 days. None of the emergency plans called for so many people being here. We're starting to run out of supplies and unless we're planning to leave quickly, we need to send someone out and find what we can. We have long-term survival supplies that will keep us from starving, but believe me they don't taste very good."

  "Is it serious?"

  "I think we'll start running out of some major items within the week."

  "Ok, we'll put together a seek-and-retrieve team. I'll try to get them out the first thing in the morning. Let's hope they make it back ok."

  "Admiral," said Eddy into his communicator.

  "I'd like to find Louis and Colonel Dodd and meet with you as soon as you can."

  "C'mon down, I'm in my office."

  "Great I'll be there as soon as I find Louis and the Colonel."

  "Don't worry about Dodd, she's in the office next to mine and I can hear her voice."

  A couple of quick calls and Louis came online and he was only a short distance away, so meeting at the Admiral's office was easy to accomplish.

  Louis and Eddy met in the hallway in front of the Admiral's office and they walked in. Eddy noticed Colonel Dodd was already there, "Ok now Admiral?" Eddy asked.

  "Sure sit-down."

  Eddy was the man requesting the meeting so he started, "Admiral, the OP Plan for Camp David didn't plan on this many people for this long a period of time. Chef Jonny told me we're running out of supplies. We need to think about replenishing them while we can."

  The Admiral looked at the Colonel and asked, "Colonel you're responsible for the site, what's your assessment?"

  "Sir our snack bars and main kitchen were supplied daily. The main kitchen has stores for 100 executives for 10 days and emergency supplies for 50 executives for 60 days. Last count we have 250 people on site and no daily supplies. I'm not surprised if we're running out."

  "Ok, what do we do about it?"

  The room was quiet for a moment then Colonel Dodd said, "We send a team out to get supplies."

  The statement was so obvious no one felt the need to reply.

  The Admiral picked up on the statement, "Ok, who are we sending?"

  Once again, Colonel Dodd spoke up, "Sir, it's our responsibility and we're better suited for this type of mission. We have no idea what or who we might encounter."

  Louis quickly jumped in, "Sir, I'd also like to include some people, we need to know what is going on out there."

  "Ok, Colonel. Put up a team of six marines in command and Louis give us two service guys and we'll send them out tonight. Let's put together some encounter plans in case they run across some civilians. I don't want any problems, we have enough already."

  Everyone nodded and the discussion went on to other concerns they all shared.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  "Mr. President I'd like to update you on some other issues," said Nancy Bartlett.

  "What little staff I have from the state department, we've been doing everything we can to maintain contact with our allies. Our contact patterns have been similar to what's been happening domestically. Initially, we had a contact at the higher levels, but as time progressed, the contacts disappeared. We have to work with low-level personnel that had a limited view of what they were dealing with. Since your contact with the Russian premier, we've had no follow-up contact. If he did pass away then, his successor never contacted us. We have lost all contact with Canada and we have only one person in White Hall speaking for Britain. The Europeans collapsed quickly and we have no one to speak with. It was great that Bruce was able to call in from Australia since then we've had periodic contact with the Australians. Unfortunately, it has taken multiple calls to get through, but at least they have a functioning government. The Eastern Alliance is continuing to cause problems in the eastern Indian Ocean. We've tried to pass information to the 5th fleet, but w
e've been unable. Admiral Hagerly is trying to improve the communications, but it has been difficult. We've had some communications with Israel but again nothing consistent. As we improve our information, I'll keep you current."

  "Thank you, Nancy."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Senior Staff Sargent Leroy Lenmore or "LL" as his friends called him, sat in the main gate shack and looked around at the team.

  He had agent Michael Dereaux, who he knew little about, except that he was the lead secret service agent on the president's detail. The other secret service person was an enigma. She was a small woman, but she had a case that was obviously carrying a sniper rifle. Her name was Agent Ruth Minor. Any girl who could handle a gun that big couldn't be all bad.

  The Sargent's team was all men he knew and trusted. He introduced them, "Sargent Maccabee is my second in command, Sargent Mark Sherly is our transport guy and Sargent Kevin O'Neal is our explosives man.

  He took a minute looking at his team and he was confident they could do what he asked. "Agents Dereaux and Minor, Echo team, our direction is clear. Seek out items on this list of supplies, recover them and return them to base. If we encounter civilians, we are to support if possible, render aid if possible and we encounter hostile individuals we are to defend ourselves and move from the area. We will not engage. We will not identify ourselves as being from Camp David. All we will acknowledge is the military rank on our camo gear and we're traveling with two civilians. Any questions?"

  Of course, there wasn't any. The team went to the weapons store and took what they needed which included night vision gear, personal comm units, light weapons, pistols and one medium weight automatic rifle. Lenmore suspected that the rifle Minor carried was her weapon of choice and she knew how to use it.

  It was dark so the Echo team took two vehicles. A second vehicle was always a good idea for backup or escort. The general plan was to go to downtown Thurmont, find the stores necessary and commandeer a larger truck to haul the supplies back to camp.

  Thurmont had a couple of grocery stores so they picked one based on its access. If they didn't have to go through the downtown area, there was less chance of encounters. The best choice was the Food Lion, which was in a neighborhood on their side of the freeway. They could approach it from housing nearby and the freeway would block visual compromise from the downtown area.

  It was already dark so they left. The route they briefed was out of the park on Park Central, then pick up 77 and follow it into the Frank Benz Lake area of Thurmont. Near the first neighborhood was the Food Lion store, which should have everything they needed. The store had West access, so they could approach the store through neighborhoods and assess the area before they had to expose themselves. They elected to stay on 77 until Pryor Rd, then turn right on Pryor and left on Sun High, then a right on Boss, left on Macintosh then lastly a left on Redhaven. It was a long way, but it allowed them to move through back neighborhood streets and finally put them in a position to observe the parking lot for the Food Lion. They were a little concerned about moving around in a residential neighborhood in the early morning hours. There was always the risk of guard dogs and unsupervised mobile units. A dart gun would take care of the guard dogs and an electric pellet would take care of the mobiles.

  The house they chose had only one car and the lights were out. The neighborhood was quiet and they didn't see any dogs or errant mobile units. It was a middle-class neighborhood so they wouldn't have many mobile units and if they did, they were likely simple house cleaning units plugged in and charging their power supplies. Once in the house they did find two deceased individuals and they were able to leave them in their room and close the door. Taking positions in the back yard, they would wait and see what activity there was around the store before moving in.

  The plan worked as briefed and after watching the entrance for an hour they decided it was clear. Around midnight, they moved up Redhaven then right on Sunhigh Drive and right on Tippin Drive then into the parking lot and quickly to the side entrance where the trucks were parked. Luckily, the side entrance had a nice row of trees blocking the view from the 15 Freeway so it would reduce the odds of a chance encounter.

  Luck continued with them, the store was open, and the refrigerators were still operating. They took turns with four of the team using the forklifts and two providing lookouts on the roof. There was an 18-wheel delivery truck, which already had much of what they needed inside, so they just needed to load the rest up and get out of there.

  During the last part of the loading, Michael and Ruth were on the top rotating their movement around the roof to see in all directions. They surveyed the area using their night vision goggles and scopes. Michael saw some activity and whispered to Ruth, "I've got someone downtown. It appears that they're pillaging some stores. I can't tell if they're armed or not."

  Just as he said that, two forms came out of a store and walked towards them. "Ok, now I've two groups. One just came out of a store and they're getting together with the others. I'm not sure what's going on, but they seem to be arguing." Suddenly there were two muzzle flashes and two seconds later, they heard the shots.

  "I'd guess they weren't willing to share whatever they found."

  Ruth was listening and she saw another activity. "Mike, I've got another bunch by the police department. There are two groups and one of the groups appears to be armed. One of the groups has a loudspeaker and is saying something to the other group." Michael and Ruth were too far away to understand the commands, but it was obvious that someone thought they were in charge. Suddenly multiple muzzle flashes shocked her and, a few seconds later, there was the sound of an automatic weapon's fire. They both fell to the roof to be safe and Michael focused in the same direction. "Oh my God, one group just murdered the other. What is going on?"

  "I think we have a warlord that is taking over the town, and he seems to be pretty violent," Michael whispered

  It wasn't clear what was happening, but their orders were not to get involved. They remained on the roof monitoring the situation until the all-clear signal came from below. Then they exited the roof and climbed in one of the cars while Sargent Sherly fired up the truck with one of the other team member riding shotgun. The three vehicles left their lights off and exited the parking lot with one car in front, the truck in the middle and one in the rear. The drive back to camp was uneventful.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Sometimes the trucks came in at odd hours. Regardless, the work never stopped, sometimes it was tiring, sometimes it was boring but they always needed new recruits. If Artur and Dmitry were going to build a new and clean world, they needed clean people.

  Artur got up and took a shower in the mayor's home. It was a nice enough place to live and when he moved in there was only two bodies to remove and a mattress to throw away. Once he was up and made some coffee the trip to the police station was quiet, and, of course, there wasn't any traffic. When he arrived at the police station, the truck from Atlanta was just pulling into the parking lot. The process was working pretty well by now. They could process the people and never actually touch them. That was the best way. They would walk them down the hall in the police department and take their temperature by aiming a digital thermometer at them, then decide if that person was worth keeping or not. Then as they left, they could easily spray some red paint on the ones that weren't clean. After processing, separating the good from the bad, seemed the logical thing to do and then dispose of the dirty people with a little gunfire. Artur didn't want to be involved with that part of the process, not that it bothered him, but it was messy and messy was like dirty, so it wasn't his thing.

  The fear the people felt when they were processed made Artur feel strong. He was in charge and he decided their fate; what more power could a man have. Two shots in the distance disrupted his self-admiration. Glaring at two of his team around him, one of them spoke with a little embarrassment. "We checked the town and there wasn't anyone here, a couple of the guys went out
to have some fun and they probably fired the shots." The shots made him angry because his peace was disturbed.

  After the processing was done and the mess cleaned up outside, it was the end of another long night of finding fresh recruits. Time for Artur to head home and try to get some sleep. Suddenly his stomach said something different and he had a craving for some donuts, nice messy donuts covered with sweet sugar. It was a nice night with a nice moon, a quick drive to the supermarket would take only a couple of minutes and it was worth it. Artur drove down Main Street and pulled onto the freeway for the half-mile trip to the next exit and the grocery store. Often on nice nights like that, he would drive without his headlights on as a small sign of rebellion. It was a new world, he enjoyed the quiet of the night and the headlights seemed to detract from that.

  As he pulled off the freeway and up Tippin towards the entrance to the grocery store, movement caught his eye and he didn't believe what he saw. There were two cars and a large truck pulling out of the parking lot without its light on. Something was up and he quickly stopped the car and pulled to the side of the street. Sure enough, the line of vehicles was pulling out and turned right up Tippin. What the fuck is happening and who are they? He thought. How dare they steal food from his store?

  He sat there for a few moments trying to understand who they were and watched them as they drove away towards the west. Then it hit him, they acted professional and obviously didn't want to be seen so it must have been people from Camp David raiding the local stores. Interesting, so they are here and surprisingly they're running low on food. "Maybe we can attack and clean them out once and for all," he said out load.

  Wednesday 7/19/51

  Date – 2051.54555 (7:00 AM)

  SIMPOC; Comm. I have tried to communicate with our other divisions. Two of them are responsive and supporting our communications. One of them has not been responsive.”